Before: our upholstered headboard, covered in the chocolate brown fabric it came with (photographed in our old house)...

After: the headboard today, mounted in the master bedroom, after I replaced the brown velvet with a piece of muslin fabric I painted...

Before: our upholstered headboard, covered in the chocolate brown fabric it came with (photographed in our old house)...

After: the headboard today, mounted in the master bedroom, after I replaced the brown velvet with a piece of muslin fabric I painted...

so. Not good for nakedness. 

Yep, even more easily than on leather, in fact. You have to know that you'll go from something that feels like fabric, to something that feels like soft vinyl, though.

Can this be done on fabrics too?
 

It worked on this chair. I have no clue what it might do with other leathers, but a small test in an inconspicuous place would tell you quickly enough- I gave each coat of gesso and latex a full 24 hours to cure.

I use some cinder blocks and a manhole cover, but that's just me...

very cool Judi! Love the news print effect. We have such tiny gaps that I used birch cd shelves on their side for our bedside cabinets!

very cool Judi! Love the news print effect. We have such tiny gaps that I used birch cd shelves on their side for our bedside cabinets!

Cast-off desk drawers to nightstands in one week! They started like this...



And wound up like this...



Here's the blog post detailing how I did it, if anyone's interested in the gory details.

The oils and tannins were the other things I wondered about.  I guess the alcohol helps neutralize the oils and enough primer can prevent bleed-through.  Good to know.
 

That's a beautiful piece, MsJ! :chap:

Actually, I DID sand it, but only in the areas where the leather was rough and beaten up. Areas of the leather had taken on a scaly feel to them because of tiny cracks in the surface. I suspected those could be "healed" with paint, but even I was surprised as how smooth the final coat was. After I sanded down all the rough areas, I wiped the whole thing with rubbing alcohol to combat the tannins and oils. It worked- to a point. It was really the second coat of gesso and the first coat of latex that covered up all the remaining tannin trying to bleed though.

ok, one more question. Sharpie for the scribbles?

I did. I first tried using a small roller brush, but it was causing bubbles in the wet paint and I didn't want them drying in there, plus, the coverage seemed more spotty. The whole thing took less than a quart of paint and about 16oz of gesso, and it's a pretty big piece of furniture, so I was pleased.

Did you use a brush to apply the paint?